The episode starts with Tae Ho coming to Woo Bo, Moo Ha, and the other minister to show off, but they won’t put up with his provocations and confront him. Tae Ho rejoices himself telling them the prince is dead and threatens them to pay for their insults. Our guys don’t get intimidated, Moo Ha standing up bravely, but once the man leaves, they grieve and cry the loss of the prince and hope.

But the prince isn’t dead. As the mark on his shoulder disappears, he regains consciousness and witnesses how guards drop more bodies, young girl bodies. The guards notice he is awake, but they leave him to die there nonetheless. They drop a water bottle as they leave.

At the palace, the queen has lost her court lady and even her people, who now being addicted to the deadly flower, beg to join the Pyunsoo Hwe.

Woo Bo and the rest are being chased by Tae Ho. Woo Bo is drunk to endure the grief, but as they wonder what to do they ask: What the prince would do?

Said prince is being helped by one of the little girls who crawls to give him water. He tries to share but the poor girl dies before that. Crying, he cradles the girls and realizes the field is crowded with more bodies like her.

Lee Sun mother, holding Wiggly’s hand, are escorted to the palace and to meet the king. Here, Lee Sun uncovers his face and reveals the truth. They cry in each other’s arms, but his mother is worried, yet Lee Sun reassures for he is the real king now. He’s getting worse and worse. The woman then goes to see Ga Eun, expressing how scared she is that Lee Sun might get caught and punished for impersonating the king. Ga Eun tells him about his mother’s worries but Lee Sun doesn’t seem affected. She encourages to think of his family and stop living as a puppet, but Lee Sun thinks himself truly the king and even promises to bring back her father’s honor. Angry that she doesn’t support him, he just tells her to wait and watch.

Lee Sun is acting like a real king, even getting one of the Pyunsoo Hwe minister to help him capture Tae Ho to then torture him for having killed his father. He reveals that to the man who pleads for his life and promises to serve him, not Dae Mok anymore. Yeah, right. Hyun Seok watches with some concern, but Dae Mok doesn’t care. When a minister tells him how the fake king shows ambition, he laughs. That's his last concern. People who show their ambition are beneath him because Dae Mok has his foot over them, but people like the crown prince, who even after death can get people’s support are to be feared.

Cue to his words, Prince Sun rises among the dead bodies in the empty field.

Hwa Goon has awoken after three days but her eyes are lost and vacant, and she’s still working as expected. This fact sends an alarm off in Dae Mok’s head who orders to spy on his granddaughter.

Prince Sun is near the deadly flowers field so he sneaks in, finding where the little girls are working, even watching one collapse and how one of the older women orders another girl to take food to a prisoner. Prince Sun is definitely in the right place.

Mae Chang asks Head Eunuch to help her find the girls and save them, as she was one of them. They have lost all hope and for always waiting they are now in Dae Mok’s hands.

The rest of our heroic team are trying to fiend the field, as that’s what the crown prince would do. Surprisingly, Mae Chang finds them there and offers to help, revealing the truth of her past and apologizing for not sharing that before.

Prince Sun continues exploring and finds all the containers with names, realizing the extent of the Pyunsoo Hwe’s grip. But he gets seen and Dae Mok is alerted, so he sends Hwa Goon to fix the problem as the field is too important. Gon follows her and for a moment she tells him to get lost, but as he doesn’t know how to protect her anymore, he swears to follow her every command, even if that means betraying Dae Mok. Accepting that, she tells him to make preparations to go.

At the field, she meets her father who has to leave to do delivery and after that she reveals her plan. She is going to burn the field to its ground, to take from her grandfather like he did. But first they need to find Chung Woon.

While they are at that, they run into the intruder who happens to be the crown prince. She runs to him and hugs him, happy to see him alive, and obviously helps him to rescue Chung Woon who thankfully has only lost one eye. She tells them to run, but the prince refuses to go without the girls. Hwa Goon agrees to help him.

They go for the girls but they are scared as they are dressed like guards. Prince Sun, however, approaches and speaks with truth and heartfelt promises, so the little girls trust him like they couldn’t do with Chung Woon. They can escape. But the real guards spot them and start the chase. Chung Woon is recovered enough to fight against some guards, but it's not enough. Luckily Gon and Hwa Goon show up and she uses the whip to stop them all and allow the prince to run.

Tae Ho arrives then, ordering the guards to move again so Hwa Goon orders Gon to help the prince while she storms back. The guards continue the chase but when she is in the deadly flower field, and her father has returned, she sets it on fire. All the guards need to come back to stop the fire while she watches, proud of what she’s done, knowing this is her end and the last thing she did for the prince.

In the distance, Gon, Chung Woon, and Prince Sun realize what Hwa Goon has done.

Things are going to get bloodier and messier. Without the deadly pills, how many will die? Will they be able to make the antidote without the pills? Oh boy. Thankfully, we'll know how the story continues pretty soon. I'll see you all for the next recap.

Until then!

COMING SOON

Ruler: Master of the Mask

The selection of scenes and gifs were made by Bel, just a regular fangirl who spends too much time watching K-dramas. Sarcasm is for the sake of humour. If you want to make use of the gifs, please give credit.